Whew! I can’t believe we’re this far into the summer! Yeah, I know it just started, but I’m already writing a column for July Fourth! Well, listen. It’s hot, I’m standing on my feet while I write, I’m tired, there’s not much news from the music world this week, I’ve been busy working on some new songs, and I’m just not in the mood to write a long column this week. There are a lot of great shows though, so we’re going straight there, but before I do, there’s one thing I wanna say. This paper comes out on Thursday. It’s posted on www.reservoirmusiccenter.com and www.brooklyncowboys.com on Tuesday night, and it goes to www.hvmusic.com on Wednesday.  If you’re reading this before Saturday, I need your help!

     Reservoir Music Store, my store, is in contention for a rather large grant! However, we will not be considered if we can’t get at least 250 votes from the general public. Therefore, I am asking my loyal and faithful readers to please go to www.missionsmallbusiness and vote for Reservoir Music Store!

     It’s very easy to do. You just log in to the Mission Small Business website using your Facebook log in information and you’re on the page. Scroll down and type “Reservoir Music Store” in the search bar. When it comes up, there’ll be a “vote” button right next to our name. Click “vote” and you’re done. Thank you all for your help. Every vote is greatly appreciated!

     And now, on to this week’s live music picks!

     Wednesday, June 27 – The Lords of Beautiful Vocal Harmonies, CROSBY, STILLS, and NASH, finish up a two day run at Montclair, New Jersey’s Wellmont Theater. More importantly, JIMMY VAUGHN, the guitarist from The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Stevie Ray’s older brother, is at BB King’s in Manhattan!

     Thursday, June 28 – Down in the city, we’ve got ROGER CLYNE AND THE PEACEMAKERS at BB King’s, MAGIC SLIM AND THE TEARDROPS  at The Iridium, and TENACIOUS D, comedian Jack Black’s hilarious folk-rock duo, at The Hammerstein Ballroom. Pretty weird to have Tenacious D at a venue named for Oscar Hammerstein, ain’t it?

Up in The Catskills, ROGER WATERS brings his “The Wall” extravaganza into The The Times Union Center in Albany, and this week’s first Pick of the Week is at The Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, in the form of THE SIERRA LEONE REFUGEE ALL STARS! These guys actually met in refugee camps in Sierra Leone during that country’s bloody civil war! Since then, they’ve played all over the world and picked up tons of influential, highly placed musicians as fans! If you can get on The Bearsville Theater’s website (which has been having problems of late), read their story. It’s very inspirational, and after reading it, you’re probably gonna wanna go to the show!

     Friday, June 29 – Tonight’s the night for music folks! 5 out of 7 of tonight’s show’s are Picks of the Week! First time ever that there were so many, but I gotta do it! It’s all too good!

At The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan, the aforementioned SIERRA LEONE REFUGEE ALL STARS reprise last night’s Bearsville Theater show. And tonight at The Bearsville, we have 60’s legends, JEFFERSON STARSHIP, with two of my favorite local bands opening, JONNY MONSTER BAND and DIRTY BLIND, both of whom I have profiled in these pages. At The Rodeo Bar in the city, one of my favorite alt-country rock n roll bands, THE DEMOLITION STRING BAND, holds court. And now for the really big shows. TROMBONE SHORTY, TROMBONE SHORTY, TROMBONE SHORTY!!! That’s right, he warrants three mentions! Go back and read my column from the first week of September, 2011 for a full review of TS’s performance at last year’s Bluestock Festival. This is the second most important show this week, eclipsed only by my own band, THE CHEATING HEARTS, at Keegan Ales in Kingston. The band features Just James on guitar and vocals, and Jimmy Eppard on lead guitar and vocals. We’re gonna rock the country and countrify the rock! This is our first time at Keegan’s, so won’t you please come out and help us have a good night? Finally, two more great shows in the city! SPECTRUM ROAD consists of Jack Bruce, Vernon Reid, John Medeski, and Cindy Blackman. If you don’t know who they are, Google ‘em! This is an all star supergroup, if there ever was one, but it will probably be a little on the jazzy side at times, when they’re not busy rockin’! At BB King’s! And over in Brooklyn, at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, we have THE CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD, he of The Black Crowes. They will also be at The Bearsville Theater in August!

     Saturday, June 30 – That’s it! June’s over, and we’ll mark the occasion with a MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD TRIBUTE WITH AL KOOPER AND JIMMY VIVINO at The Highline Ballroom. Bloomfield was the ultra-influential guitarist with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band who went on to start The Electric Flag, but not before playing on Dylan’s sessions for “Highway 61 Revisited”! Al Kooper is the guy who played organ on “Highway 61 Revisited” and also showed up at the sessions for “Let It Bleed”, discovered Lynrd Sknrd, wrote “This Diamond Ring”, and for the last 20 years a or so, has been fronting The Rekooperators with Jimmy Vivino (of Levon’s Band, Conan’s band, and The Fab Faux) on guitar. I guess this Bloomfield tribute will, in part, be a tribute to the series of albums Kooper did with Bloomfield in the late 60’s. “Super Session” was a bunch of recorded jams between Kooper, Bloomfield, Steven Stills, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, Harvey Brooks, and others. Check out their version of the Dylan classic, “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”. It’s pure punk! I’d be remiss if I left out LUTHER “GUITAR JR.” JOHNSON AND THE MAGIC ROCKERS at The Towne Crier in Pauling. If you can’t get downstate for the Bloomfield show, at least get yer ass over to The Crier for this GRAMMY winning Blues artist, who cut his teeth in Muddy Waters’ and Magic Sam’s bands. I wonder if he’ll do “A Pretty Girl (a Cadillac and Some Money)”?

     Sunday, July 1 – I usually don’t recommend shows that are real far away, like on Long Island. I’d like to recommend a show that’s on Long Island! AEROSMITH and CHEAP TRICK are at Nassau Coliseum. This is just a great show. Cheap Trick never fail to rock your socks off, and Aerosmith are still pretty good too! Together, it doubles the pleasure, doubles the fun, and you can’t say no!  Remember THE FEELIES? Post punk art-rock band in the 80’s? Pretty good band at the time, makes ‘em a really good band now? Well, they’re playing at Maxwell’s in Hoboken tonight.

     Monday, July 2 – The great CHARLIE WATTS, drummer for The Rolling Stones, brings his big band into The Iridium in Manhattan. STEVIE NICKS, not really my cup of tea, but at The Beacon Theater? Yes!

     Tuesday, July 3 – NORAH JONES, Central Park Rumsey Playfield. The immortal BOBBY WOMACK at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, and the CBGB FESTIVAL at Bowery Electric, featuring CHEETAH CHROME, RICHARD LLOYD, TOMMY RAMONE,THE RATTLERS, THE WALDOS, and more.

     You know, almost every show this week could easily have been a Pick of the Week! What an amazing line up of music we have this week! Enjoy it! Support it! And support Reservoir Music Store – VOTE!

     Have a great Fourth!

     Greetings! I received the following email from a reader.

   

 Hey, Fred--

You did Bonnie Bramlett a serious disservice by saying that after her split with Delaney she became a backup vocalist. Bonnie released  10 solo albums with some of the greatest singing anyone with an ounce of soul will love:

• Sweet Bonnie Bramlett (CBS, 1973)
• It's Time (Capricorn, 1975)
• Lady's Choice (Capricorn, 1976)
• Memories (Capricorn, 1978)
• Step by Step (1981)
• I'm Still the Same (Audium, 2002)
• Roots, Blues & Jazz (Zoho, 2006)
• I can Laugh About It Now (Zoho, 2006)
• Beautiful (Rockin' Camel, 2008)
• Piece Of My Heart - The Best Of 1969-78 (Raven, 2008)

She also sang duets with many top male artists, including Gregg Allman, Jimmy Hall, Mickey Thomas, Dobie Gray, and Delbert McClinton; "Givin' It Up For Your Love," with Delbert, went to #8 on the Billboard charts. She also sang backup for many Southern rock bands, and is an honorary "Allman Sister."  And she co-wrote "Superstar," a  hit for several artists including The Carpenters Better Midler, Luther Vandross, Sonic Youth, and Usher.

I was at the tribute concert, and it took three spectacular backup singers to handle Bonnie's famous vocals. Elaine Caswell's comment: "Girl, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be up here singing!"

Currently a petition is circulating to have Delaney & Bonnie inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and filming has begun on a documentary about them.

One of my interviews with Bonnie is on this site: http://RocksBackPages.com/Library

KRIS DILORENZO

Smart Communications for Smart Business
Tel: 914-231-5491/ Cell: 917-402-1747

     So, thank you Kris, for setting the record straight, and for reading this column to begin with. Don’t forget to check out Kris’s interview with Bonnie at the link above.

     Phil Lesh celebrated the grand re-opening of his Midnight Ramble-like venue, Terrapin Crossroads, in San Rafael, California, with a performance by Phil and Friends, which consisted of a first set in which the band did the entire second album by The Band, known as The Brown Album or just “The Band”, and a second set consisting of the entire “Workingman’s Dead”!

     Lesh makes no secret of the fact that his entire operation was directly inspired by Levon’s Midnight Rambles, and before they played, Phil gave a speech honoring his friend, in which he dedicated, “not just the show, or the next show, or everything we do here, but the whole place, to Levon Helm.” Wow! Now that’s a show I would have liked to have been at! To read the full speech, go to http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/phil-lesh-dedicates-terrapin-station-to-levon-helm-20120511

    

     Speaking of shows I would have liked to have been at, you may have heard that the late Tupac Shakur made an appearance at this year’s Coachella Festival! Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre performed with an extremely lifelike Tupac hologram! It was a smash, and now the estates of dead celebrities are lining up to do the same. So far, the estates of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison have expressed interest, with Presley’s estate reportedly already inking a deal! And Morrison’s agent also handles the estates of Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Peter Tosh, and Rick James! It’s not too late kids! Soon you’ll be able to see all of your favorite dead rock stars perform again!

     And why stop there? How long before living musicians get in on the act? The Stones could be playing in any number of cities around the world, simultaneously! The Grateful Dead could tour with Jerry Garcia again and play Madison Square Garden every night of the year! The possibilities are endless!

     Before we get to this week’s live music picks, I just want to mention, since I got lazy and there was no column last week, that last weekend, June 16th, 17th, and 18th, was the 45th anniversary of the groundbreaking Monterey International Pop Festival. An event to be remembered! BTW, I happened to see, by accident, the newly remastered version of the film of the festival, and it is like a totally different film from the first release. Definitely worth checking out.

     And now for this week’s live music picks.

     Wednesday, June 20 – JOSS STONE makes a rare club appearance at The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan. Now, Stone is a pretty good singer, but I would never recommend her at one of the large venues she usually appears in, but at The Highline? You’ve got to be kidding! It’s a no brainer!

     Thursday, June 21 – Two weeks ago, I recommended ANDERS OSBORNE on the basis of The Village Voice calling him a “New Orleans guitar demon”. Since then, I’ve heard more good things about him. At The Brooklyn Bowl.

When I lived in Nashville, and my band, The Brooklyn Cowboys were just starting out, there was a guy in town named WALT WILKINS, who was pretty darn good. Tonight, Walt pulls into Hill Country Barbecue in Manhattan for a show that’ll probably be a mix of Americana, Country, and Rock & Roll. If you like that kinda stuff, Walt’s pretty darn good!

     Friday, June 22 – KEB’ MO’ was one of the best performers at the White House Blues night. Well, he impressed me anyway! Tonight he’s at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn.

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS, a great bluegrass band from the Midwest, make a stop at The Brooklyn Bowl before heading up to Grey Fox, and the Pick of the Week was never easier or more alone, than this week! The great ROKY ERICKSON of the immortal Thirteenth Floor Elevators, will be making an extremely rare appearance, especially outside of Texas, at Maxwell’s in Hoboken! This is pretty much a “can’t miss” event! The Thirteenth Floor Elevators were the biggest psychedelic band in Texas, until Roky went psycho-delic! But he’s better now, and the last time I saw him on TV, Billy Gibbons was playing with him! Be there if you can!

     Saturday, June 23 – Lotsa big shows tonight. Lotsa lotsa big shows…but I digress! Upstate we’ve got THE BEACH BOYS at SPAC (that’s Saratoga Performing Arts Center for the uninitiated), as fine a place to see a concert as there is anywhere! Brian Wilson’s with them and so are all the living band members, so this probably ain’t gonna happen again! At The Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, the inimitable KINKY FRIEDMAN rides into town. Downstate, HOT TUNA with STEVE KIMOCK will be at The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ, ROSIE FLORES is at The Rodeo Bar, and the Hudson Valley’s JIM WEIDER PROJECT PERCOLATOR       is at The Iridium, both in Manhattan.

     Sunday, June 24 – A nice way to spend a Sunday evening, if you’re upstate, is with SHAWN COLVIN at The Bearsville Theater. Larry Campbell used to play with her, so maybe he’ll show up.

Now if you’re in the city, a nice way to spend a Sunday evening is with ROSIE FLORES at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn.

     Monday, June 25 – Busy week, eh? Alt-Country supergroup THE FLATLANDERS, hitch up at BB King’s, and JIM WEIDER is back at The Iridium, this time with THE LES PAUL TRIO.

     Tuesday, June 26 – CROSBY, STILLS, and NASH ARE AT The Wellmont Theater for the first of two nights, DAVE MASON is at The City Winery, and CINDERELLA, that’s right, Cinderella, is at The Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ! Now, Englewood is a lot easier to get to from points north of the city, than the actual city! And Cinderella is an interesting group. Back in the 80’s, a Rock tour went to Russia, and when they returned, a compilation album was released. On this album, Cinderella released their version of the Janis Joplin classic, “Move Over”, and I swear, you could not tell the difference between Janis and Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer! I mean, he nailed her! It’s amazing! And their last album before breaking up had quite a few cool songs on it. (After all that, this better not be the play, “Cinderella”!)

     Wednesday, June 27 – CROSBY, STILLS, and NASH finish up at The Wellmont tonight.

     Thursday, June 28 – ROGER WATERS is at The Times Union Center in Albany, I think, doing “The Wall”. In Woodstock, I think we have a second Pick of the Week! I didn’t plan it, but there it is! THE SIERRA LEONE REFUGEE ALL STARS actually met and started their band in the refugee camps of Sierra Leone during that country’s bloody civil war! It’s a huge success story, and you really should read it in detail, so go here, please, and do so. You will be inspired and will probably attend this event. Yeah, it’s that good!

http://www.bearsvilletheater.com/events-calendar/sierra-leones-refugee-all-stars-radio-salone-world-tour-thursday-june-28-2012

     So, that wraps it up for another week. Thanks for reading. Seeya!

    

     Greetings! Well, we have such a happening week of live music, and, I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired or compelled to speak out regarding any events musical today, so I was thinking of going right to the live music picks and just sayin’,”See ya next week”! However…I was inspired by an event happening this week to launch another segment of my infinite part series, “Not so famous people who nevertheless consistently shared stages, studios, and good times with rock n roll royalty…and gods”! This will be the second installment. Two weeks ago I profiled Billy Preston, the only person to ever share a label credit with The Beatles! (“Help” just came on the radio! Coincidence? I think not!)

     The idea for the series came to me three weeks ago when I had the sad task of reporting the news of Donald “Duck” Dunn’s passing. Since, by chance, the first installment was two weeks ago, I will try to make it a bi-weekly event. No promises, but I will try! That way, if you’re not a regular reader of this column, (and why wouldn’t you be?), and you find this series interesting, then you can just check in every two weeks and see who I’m profiling that week (and don’t worry, it won’t be Cat Stevens!)

     Before we get to who the subject of this week’s profile is, I just want to quickly mention that Bob Dylan was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week, which I reported to you a few weeks ago, and the great Doc Watson passed this week, 89 years young! Go toward the light, Doc!

     Okay, now it can be told! This week’s profile is of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, one of the most influential bands of all time! Never heard of ‘em you say? Well, you’re about to learn something!

     Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were a husband and wife songwriting duo who put together an ass kickin’ rock and soul band that wound up being bigger stars than their bosses, and, in the process, attracted some of the biggest names in the music world! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.

     Delaney Bramlett moved from Mississippi to Los Angeles at the age of 20, in 1959, and quickly became accepted into the world of session musicians in LA. He then parlayed that into The Shindogs, who were the house band on ABC-TV series, “Shindig”, and also included Leon Russell as a member!

     Bonnie O’Farrell was almost a child prodigy, performing with Albert King at the tender age of 14, and becoming the first white Ikette at 15! In 1967, she moved to Los Angeles and met and married Delaney.

     Delaney and Leon Russell put together a backing band and they were signed to Stax Records, where they worked with Duck Dunn, Isaac Hayes, Steve Cropper, and the rest of the Stax crew. Their initial release didn’t sell well, probably due to poor promotion, and they moved to Elektra Records, where their second release created a buzz! After hearing it, George Harrison wanted to sign the band to Apple, but they were locked into Elektra. That didn’t stop George from recommending them to Eric Clapton, who took them on the road as opening act for Blind Faith in 1969! Clapton would often sit in with them on that tour, and has famously said that playing with Blind Faith afterwards was pretty discouraging, because, he thought, Delaney and Bonnie “were miles better than us”!

     When Blind Faith broke up at the end of their only tour, Clapton continued to tour and record with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, eventually brokering a better record deal for them with his label, Atco. Their first release on Atco was a live record featuring Clapton, George Harrison, Dave Mason, and others, and needless to say, it went gold! Clapton then snagged the entire band for his debut solo album, which Delaney produced!

     In 1970, they went on the infamous Festival Express Tour with The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Fling Burrito Brothers, and a bunch more! The next year they did a live show in New York that was broadcast on the radio, backed by Duane and Gregg Allman, and King Curtis!

     After Delaney and Bonnie and Friends broke up, Leon Russell recruited most of the band for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen recording sessions and tour. The one guy Leon didn’t hire, Bobby Whitlock, was hangin’ out with Eric Clapton at his home in England, jamming and writing songs. When they decided to form a band, they recalled bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon from the Cocker tour to form a little unit you may have heard of called Derek and The Dominoes, who also formed the core band for George Harrison’s masterpiece, “All Things Must Pass”, along with Dave Mason, Bobby Keys, and Jim Price, former Friends all!

     Clapton has said that Delaney taught him how to sing, and he’s also credited with teaching George Harrison how to play slide guitar!

     Delaney and Bonnie were divorced in 1973, and she became a backing vocalist for Stephen Stills, Elvin Bishop, and The Allman Brothers Band, later turning to acting, where she had a recurring role in the TV show, “Roseanne”!

     Delaney died in 2008, but not before selling a guitar that George Harrison had given him for $567,500 in 2004, which presumably allowed him to live out his final years in style!

     Oh yeah, their daughter, Bekka, was a member of Fleetwood Mac in the early 1990’s and later, backing vocalist with Vince Gill and Faith Hill, as well as having a vibrant solo career! The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say!

     The Tribute to Delaney and Bonnie and their Famous Friends takes place at The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan on June 8th!

  

  Other live musical events for the week:

     Wednesday, June 6 – THE ORIGINAL WAILERS are at BB King’s in Manhattan tonight, and since there’s nothing else going on, it’s a no brainer!

     Thursday, June 7 – VICTOR WOOTEN has long been considered one of the top bass players in the world. Tonight he’s working at The Brooklyn Bowl. JAMES MCCARTNEY will be performing at The Gramercy Theater in Manhattan tonight. Now, I’ve never heard anything he’s done, but he’s Paul McCartney’s son, so for that reason alone, IMHO, he’s worth checking out! And tonight marks the start of a 5 day musical event called MAX’S KANSAS CITY ALUMNI REUNION 2012 at Bowery Electric! Max’s was one of the premier New York clubs from 1965 through 1981, and hosted everyone from The New York Dolls, Blondie, and The Ramones to Gram Parsons and Dave Mason. It was a watering hole for anyone who was anyone and is fondly remembered by anyone who was ever there, which was everyone! Made famous in song by Lou Reed and Wayne County and The Backstreet Boys, but when will they make a movie? Pick of the Week!

     Friday, June 8 – Tonight, NEIL YOUNG makes an appearance, along with director JONATHAN DEMME, at the 92nd Street Y, for a screening of the Demme directed concert pic, “Neil Young Journeys”, that was shot at Toronto’s Massey Hall in May 2011. The original concert is already the stuff of legends, and one would think that Neil might play a few tunes for the faithful! The aforementioned TRIBUTE TO DELANEY AND BONNIE AND THEIR FAMOUS FRIENDS is at The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan, my second Pick of the Week! And EILEN JEWELL and LOS STRAITJACKETS, last week’s Pick of the Week, are at City Winery, and are my third Pick of the Week, marking the first time a show was Pick of the Week two weeks in a row, at two different venues! Two fine Americana acts are also in town. RHETT MILLER AND THE SERIAL LADY KILLERS at The Bowery Ballroom, and SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. And the MAX’S KANSAS CITY REUNION continues at Bowery Electric.

     Saturday, June 9 – Former Texas gubernatorial candidate, renowned novelist, and former Texas Jewboy, KINKY FRIEDMAN is at The Highline Ballroom and GARY US BONDS is at BB King’s, both in Manhattan. BUDDY GUY and JONNY LANG will be wailing the Blues at The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ, and the MAX’S REUNION continues at Bowery Electric.

     Sunday, June 10 – For you upstaters, my fourth and final Pick of the Week, SKOLLIE, is at The Falcon in Marlborough. For background information on this supergroup of sorts, see my archived column from January 11, 2012. Max’s Reunion continues, and concludes tomorrow night, June 11.

     Have a great week!